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Origin of a Writing System
History (see also History of Writing) The origins of different writing systems are both diverse and complex. There is debate amongst linguists whether the different writing systems of Europe, Asia, and Africa were all developed independently or if they arose from cultural diffusion. Most early forms of writing were to keep records for business or legal purposes. The earliest use of writing known to man is Cuneiform, which arose in ancient Sumeria, located in modern day Iraq circa 3000 B.C. Cuneiform writing isn't necessarily a specific writing system rather the term is used to encompass a number of writing systems using wedge-shaped structures to represent words or sounds. Some of the earliest documents found include the Sumerian King's list and the Code of Hammurabi, both of which were used as legal documents at the time of their creation. Other early writing forms include hieroglyphics, a writing system that incorporates pictures to represent ideas. The first phonetic alphabet was the Phoenician alphabet. It arose during the 11th century B.C. and used only consonants to express the entirety of the Phoenician language. The evolution of a writing system based off of components of a word as opposed to entire words is important to modern time because without such a writing system, something like typing would be nearly impossible. Classification Semiology is the subfield of linguistics that deals with the study of signs and their relationships to language and verbal communication. It is a field of study that lacks the cohesion and unification of other fields of science. For instance, organic chemistry has the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUCAP) which works with chemists all around the world to select names and naming systems for chemicals whereas the differing theories of semiotics have led to many different classification schemas. For simplicity’s sake, most writing systems can be classified into three main types: pictographi c, logographic, and phonetic. Pictographic Most early forms of writing were pictographic. A pictographic script is one that incorporates pictures to express vague ideas. Logographic Logographic scripts are scripts where each character represents a word or syllable. Most people using pictographic scripts either began using their scripts as logographic or began using other scripts that were. A modern example of a logographic script is the Chinese alphabet which has a character for almost every word. Phonetic Most scripts used today are phonetic scripts. Phonetic scripts are scripts which utilize characters to repr esent a consonant or a vowel. Many linguists consider this to be a more efficient type of writing system because it involves fewer characters to represent more words, and therefore can encompass an entire language with only a few characters. The general trend with most languages is that the characters start out as representing vague concepts and moving towards more concrete words. Most writing systems eventually move towards a phonetic alphabet in which the characters eventually represent sounds, reducing the overall amount of characters to represent the entire language, but increasing the amount of characters needed to represent a single word. Effects The use of writing systems has had a strong effect on time and space and especially the perception of the two. One of the conventional terms used in historic studies is the term prehistory. Historians usually define this term as the time before the use of writing, this being because the usage of written records and the increase of the usage of written records make for more information about the time when the records were made. With available primary sources of information, the period in question is better defined, though the biases of the writer should be accounted for. For instance, the Sumerian King's list was mentioned above, but one of the things not mentioned was the story behind it. There are scholars that now suggest that the Sumerian King's list was actually made in order to legitimize the rule of King Isin, one of the latter kings on the list. If this is true, he not only changed his contemporary's views of the past, but managed to gain power over a larger amount of territory and solidify his place in history throughout all of time''. '' The words of the distant past still have a strong effect on today. The Old Testament is a translation of ancient Hebrew texts and has recently been revisited by a modern translator, Professor Ellen Van Wolde, and she says that the first verse of Genesis actually doesn't say god "created the heavens and the earth," but rather, god "separated the heavens and the earth. Since then she has been sparked debate amongst some of the religious scholars that disagree. More drastic examples are the verses in the Quran that purportedly order violence against non-Muslims. Such acts of violence are the basis for multiple wars we're fighting today. Yet another example of culture clash is in third world countries where businesses and governments are beginning to adopt the Latin script to express their language so that they may better utilize modern technology. All these effects have because culture clashes in recent decades.